Friday, March 13, 2009

Tips For Chloe and Anyone Else Who Cares

Chloe's copies of my roughs are good copies. She has a superhuman eye. Maybe even 2 of them. However, they could and should be more solid than my quick roughs, rather than softer. Here are some tips on how to do that:1) Start with Line Of Action2) Construct Cranium and Jaw (lower face) - Cranium is hard and convex, lower face is fleshier3) Eye and Cheek Area are related. Draw squashed eyeball for squinty expression-wrap that ball along and behind the upper cheek. Relate upper cheek with mouth/smile line - always.4) Eye details: no parallel lines...BUT everything is related - eyelids and eyelash make a walnut shape, eyebrow radiates around eye, eyebrow wrinkle creates a worm of flesh above the eyebrow.All these elements in turn wrap around the head's position in space.5) Open Mouth - the open mouth shape is a big % of an expression. It is a dominant shape. Teeth, tongue and lips are secondary parts of the mouth. Do not let them compete or contradict the shape of the mouth. (Chloe didn't)This man exhibits everything I talk about in this post.So does this boy.Well...

LOVE your blog John. I know this isn't completely topic relevant, but my friend James drew this hilarious caricature of John Goodman. I thought immediately to post it to you on your blog. I hope you like it.

Hey John,I'm a huge fan of your blog and I feel that I've learned so much since I started following it. I'm currently studying classical animation, but I'm pursuing a career in Flash animation. A few months ago I started analyzing cartoons thanks to you , here are a few pages. Could you please tell me what I'm doing wrong, and perhaps some tips on what to practice on? Thanks so much!http://designwaffle.com/su/pic_1.jpghttp://designwaffle.com/su/pic_2.jpghttp://designwaffle.com/su/pic_3.jpgLucky